Hi all. Fist-time poster here.
I just purchased Xenonauts yesterday. It is a game that I have been keeping an eye on for about a year. I am very excited to hear that it is near completion and will be on Steam.
While I have the original X-Com, I never played it (I bought it about a year ago). I have played Firaxis' re-imagining of it, however.
I am looking forward to the increased depth of Xenonauts (I have watched a bunch of LPs of the original X-Com and they are fun to watch). However, since I am NOT an X-Com vet, I find that I will need some instruction on how to get started.
I started my first mission last night and I noted a few things; mostly concerning the UI. This post is not meant to be 'nitpicky', but instead just to point out what I have noted. I know that 'Beta is beta' and I am sure that many of the things I will bring up may be addressed in the final release (fingers crossed). I did check the FAQ on the forum, but I did not see anything that addressed my concerns.
1) The font is kinda small (I was playing on 1920x1080).
2)Mouseover tooltips were sparse or non-existent. For example, what does TU mean? I know it stands for 'Time Units', but new(er) players (I'm still a newbie) may not know that. What is a TU reserve? Why would I want to reserve them? Etc. Tooltips would help with that.
3)There did not seem to be any confirmation notification after initiating an action (like research of manufacturing items). An 'OK' button would instill greater confidence that orders have been acknowledged.
4)I did not notice a 'Help/Encyclopedia' section.
5)There was no tutorial mission. I find that some games (Hearts of Iron, for example) are so complex that even going through the tutorial still makes it hard to play, but people who love HOI know that and have probably prepared themselves for the fact there won't be any hand holding. That said, I think that accessibility will be much greater if there is a free demo and tutorial mission.
These are a few of my observations after about 30 mins of play (I wanted to play more, but I had to wait an inordinately long time to download the game from Desura, so I was tired by the time I was able to start playing).
All in all, I am excited and I can't wait for the final or for the community mods. I hope you guys do well enough to make an X2 in a couple years.
Thanks for reading.